Nazi-inspired mass murderer sentenced to death in Japan

Satoshi Uematsu, who stabbed to death 19 mentally disabled people in 2016, described his victims as a "burden" on society.

By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDS
Satoshi Uematsu, suspected of a deadly attack at a facility for the disabled, is seen inside a police car as he is taken to prosecutors, at Tsukui police station in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 27, 2016 (photo credit: KYODO/VIA REUTERS)
Satoshi Uematsu, suspected of a deadly attack at a facility for the disabled, is seen inside a police car as he is taken to prosecutors, at Tsukui police station in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 27, 2016
(photo credit: KYODO/VIA REUTERS)
A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for the murder of 19 disabled people in a 2016 stabbing attack inspired by Nazi ideology and Hitler.
Satoshi Uematsu, 30, was sentenced on Monday to hang for the crime, described by the chief judge at his trial as "extremely heinous." The attack was the deadliest mass killing to take place in Japan since the end of World War II.
In addition to the 19 residents killed at the Yamayuri-en home in suburban Tokyo, Uematsu injured 24 other residents and two members of staff, 20 of them seriously.
Uematsu entered the facility by breaking a window and attacked the residents one by one as they were sleeping. His victims were between the ages of 19 and 70, according to Japanese media agency Kyodo.
Shortly after the attack he handed himself in at a local police station, carrying a blooded knife.
During the investigation, Uematsu, who worked for a number of years at the residential facility, told investigators that disabled people were "burdens" to society and a "waste of taxes."
He showed no remorse for his actions, telling Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper that people with mental disabilities “have no heart,” and that for them, “there’s no point in living.” He added that he "had to do it for the sake of society."
He reportedly drew upon Nazi ideology, which called for the eradication of disabled people as a means of creating a master Ayrian race. Under the Nazis euthanasia program, about 200,000 disabled people were murdered between 1940 and 1945 in gas chambers, by lethal injection or starvation. The program became the model for the eradication of Jews in the Holocaust.
Uematsu worked for a number of years in the residential facility where he carried out the murders. A few months before the attack, he wrote a letter to the Japanese parliament offering to kill 470 severely disabled people if authorized, according to the BBC.
"I want Japan to be a country where the disabled can be euthanized," he wrote, adding that the killing would be "for the sake of Japan."
He quit his job when confronted over the letter. He was briefly hospitalized by local authorities to undergo psychiatric treatment, but was released after just two weeks as he was not deemed a threat.
During his trial, Uematsu did not dispute that he had stabbed his victims, and said that he would not appeal any verdict handed down. However, his defense team pleaded not guilty, arguing that his mental state was impaired by marijuana use, leaving him unable to take responsibility for his actions.
But the prosecutors, arguing for capital punishment, said that the crime was "inhumane" and left "no room for leniency."
The court agreed.
“The attacks were premeditated, and the defendant was acting consistently to achieve his goal,” Chief Judge Kyoshi Aonuma said at his sentencing on Monday. “The crime, which took the lives of 19 people, was extremely heinous and caused damage that is incomparable to any other case.”
The case has raised questions in Japan about social stigmas attached to disability. Many of the victims' names were not released, as relatives did not want it known that they had a disabled family member.
However, the mother of one victim named her daughter publicly as Miho, who was 19, before the start of the trial.
Arguing for the death penalty, the mother said of Uematsu: "Even the most extreme penalty is light for you; I will never forgive you," according to public broadcaster NHK.
"Please bring back my most precious daughter," she said. "You're still alive. It's not fair; it's wrong. I demand capital punishment."


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